best things I've read ever probably
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On Monday, Will shows up to school wearing glasses.
After a lifetime of getting bullied for being a nerd, he’d rather show up to school covered in live ants, but it actually goes fine. Weirdly well, even. Jennifer Hayes asks him to carry her books to Geometry, and Denise King enthusiastically volunteers to be his lab partner in Chem. Will is all too aware of the attraction he somehow poses to the school’s most sought-after girls, but this feels like another level. Maybe it’s a charity case thing now, because of the glasses.
“It’s not,” Max tells him frankly at lunch. “You just look really hot with glasses.”
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Will’s eyes sting with tears, and his nose prickles with heat. He feels like he’s burning, like he’s on fire. But Mom’s right—he doesn’t have to be afraid. She knows, and she loves him, and she’s not leaving. All that’s left is the words. And he shouldn’t be scared of words. After all he’s been through, if what takes him down is the English alphabet, then the world has a really fucked up sense of humor.
He just needs to rip off the bandaid.
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Alternatively: Five times Will Byers came out, and the one time someone came out to him.
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“Woah,” Will whispers to himself incredulously, laughing a little under his breath as he shuffles through the pages of the letter again. He can’t help but admire the smooth, off-white stationery, its pleasant weight in his hands. A serious-looking “MJW” watermark adorns the top of each page, totally at odds with the entertaining missive and its author’s garbled cursive. Will laughs quietly to himself again. What sixteen-year-old boy on earth has monogrammed stationery?
Michael J. Wheeler, apparently. Where did Max find this guy?
Mike Wheeler is insecure, even by normal teenage standards. So when his friend, Max, connects him with her old friend from California, he's surprised by how easily they get along. But as the weeks wear on, their letters grow increasingly personal, and they make plans to embark on a week-long trip, Mike can't let go of one inconvenient, anxiety-inducing thought: What if he wants to be more than friends?